January 2014

Strange Way Out by Troy Blackford
Sammy is a man with problems. Most of the time, he doesn’t remember what day it is, what town he lives in, or even what he’s doing on a day-to-day basis. Sammy’s worst problem is that all his other problems are his own fault. He’s twenty-six, has no job, and lives with his mom – and he spends all his efforts trying to hide his dark secrets from the world… and from himself. One day, during a routine trip to commit mail fraud, his life takes a turn for the weird. What is for him a normal morning becomes the strangest situation he has ever faced: and it only snowballs from there. But is his day merely strange, or is it a ‘Strange Way Out?’ Along the way, he meets a new friend, is forced to confront his darkest secrets, and faced with a choice: keep his secrets inside, to rot him from the inside out, or expose his truth for the world to see and judge. A fight for survival in every sense – physical, emotional, and spiritual – ‘Strange Way Out’ is a story of one young man’s dawning realization that he has a part to play in his own life, and his struggle to find the courage to play that part as best he can, for better or worse, in the face of seemingly unnatural terrors and all too human threats to his existence. Purchase on Amazon

She Likes It Rough by GVR CorcilloCan daring adventures with an outdoor extremist give a daydreaming pushover the courage to make her life count for something? Lisa Flyte needs a backbone. For thirty-four years, she’s let life plow right over her – and that humiliating freak fast-food accident was the last straw! Time to get tough and start living out loud. But…how? When Lisa learns that adrenaline junkie Jack Hawkins needs a clueless urbanite to test his top-secret line of beginner adventure gear, they strike a deal: she’ll be his undercover test dummy if he helps her get brave during their adventures in the wild. But can the moxie Lisa discovers in the great outdoors help her pursue a career she really wants or stand up to her bullying family? And can it make her gutsy enough to go after Jack? He’s a man who’s not afraid of anything…except maybe of falling for Lisa. Purchase on Amazon

The Taste of Snow by Stephen V. MasseWhen winter arrives in the Austrian Alps, eleven-year-old Nicole Kinders is given a candy cane by the mysterious shopkeeper, Boznik, who tells her that the candy cane is magic. After her first taste, it seems the whole world becomes more colorful, more delicious, and more dangerous. A quarrel between students on the tram home from school leads Nicole to intervene, beginning a frightening series of events that threaten Nicole. She finds herself losing the joy of holiday preparations, and realizes that the vexing secret she keeps is influencing every part of her life. She finds no help from the magic candy cane, and decides she must return it to the shopkeeper. Purchase on Amazon
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Brood X: Firsthand Account of the Great Cicada Invasion by Michael Phillip CashSeth is laid off from work. His wife Lara just found out they are expecting a baby this summer. Seth plans on documenting the entire pregnancy with his brand new digital camcorder. During an evening home watching television, the news reports that a swarm of cicada (Brood Ten) are expected to overwhelm the entire Northeast. Brood Ten is vicious and ready to invade. During a sweltering summer night, Brood Ten emerges and wreaks havoc with the electric grid, phone and cell service, wi-fi, food and water supply. Civilization as they know it is gone. Seth and Lara are thrown back to the stone age in their own home with trillions of cicada trying to deposit their eggs and breed. Fast paced and filled with tension, Brood Ten is the perfect summer read when you’re sitting outside listening to the cicadas sing. Purchase on Amazon